My pastor has a saying that has become well known in our little rural church. He often says that a believer is either ‘GOING INTO A TRIAL, “IN” a TRIAL, or COMING OUT OF A TRIAL’.

Don’t you find that to be true?

Our little church is learning much about trials these days. Pastor not only has been  preaching about trials on Sunday mornings (go here to listen to the past few Sunday’s sermons and be BLESSED!) but our ladies bible study is doing a Kay Arthur Precept study on 1 Peter which is addressing trials as well.

One thing that pastor pointed out yesterday is that oftentimes when a believer has doubts and struggles during a trial it’s because he is doubting the goodness of God.  We don’t believe “God has our back” or that God loves us as much as He loves someone else. I believe that is so true and have definitely struggled with those same temptations to doubt God’s goodness at times. Have you?

Psalms 73 is a beautiful example of someone who doubted in the goodness of God. It is the Psalm of Asaph. As you read through the Psalm you realize that Asaph has struggled with many of the same doubts we have.  Pastor pointed out some of these same points yesterday in his sermon.

* He thought God was good to others but not to him. v. 1-2 

* Asaph’s walk with the Lord had nearly slipped (because of his envy towards those prospering). He had a worldly mind set.. v. 2-3

* He envied those who seemed to be prospering or had no troubles. He most likely asked ‘why Lord’? Why are you doing this to me and the wicked are prospering? v. 3-9

* He doubted, at times, whether God really cared or even knew what he as going through.  v. 11

* He thought he didn’t deserve the trial. He was self-righteous and had a higher view of himself than what scripture teaches. v. 13    (There is NOTHING good in us, besides the presence of the Lord. We deserve hell. Anything else above that is God’s goodness. Romans 3:10, 23)

* Asaph questioned if it really ‘paid’ to serve God and lead a pure life. v. 13

Finally, Asaph comes to the sanctuary and  there he understands the end of the wicked whom he has been envying. They are the ones that are in slippery places for in a moment’s notice they can lose all they own and head into an eternity of torment and destruction.

I’ve been like Asaph at times. I’ve equated God’s goodness to what my circumstances hold. If things are going well then I’m quick to shout, “GOD IS GOOD” !!! If my circumstances are difficult then I have found those little doubts plaguing my mind and I’ve questioned His goodness and love towards me.

Asaph ends his song to the Lord by saying in verse 28…

 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good….

The beginning of this Psalm finds Asaph equating the goodness of God with prosperity and the absence of problems but by the end of the song he knew that an intimate relationship with God (through Jesus Christ) was THE only good.

May the Lord seal this truth deep into our hearts!

This picture is a few years old. Our church has gone through some major rennovations, both inside and out, and looks very different now. I’ll have to take a current picture and post it sometime. I still think it was beautiful in it’s older days. It’s been ‘home’ to both my husband and I for the past 4 years and we thank God for it often!

“We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are “harmless,” and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are “sideliners” — coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!”   Jim Elliot

Oh, let us pray that God would make us dangerous!!!!

It’s that time of year again when I find myself purposefully evaluating my actions and decisions as a Christian for the year that has passed.  It’s a time of  reflection that can used to bring God glory in the coming year. I try to evaluate my actions on a daily basis  but there seems to be something special about the end of the year and a new starting point. Personally, it is a great ‘divider’ from the past to the future where I can make a decision to leave some things behind (and under Christ’s blood) and with great hope look forward to the year ahead.

My husband and I are discussing the coming year and praying for the Lord to direct our steps in several areas that we would like to see changed. We already have put some of those changes into action.

The following section from Nancy Leigh DeMoss’s article greatly inspired me this morning. I love Jonathan Edward’s 70 Resolutions and enjoyed her amplified version. I only copied a short section so if you’d like to read more you can click here. The article is called Spiritual Goals.

May the Lord guide and direct our steps this coming year as we seek to bring Him more glory by the way we live our daily lives.

Nancy:  “We’re going to hear about a young man who gained some early success. He entered Yale at age 13 and graduated at the top of his class. But he wasn’t satisfied. He wrote out 70 resolutions to guide his process of spiritual maturity. I think you’ll find these resolutions helpful in your life as Nancy shares some of them with us.

 Do you ever find yourself looking at another believer who’s very mature in their faith and they seem so spiritual? Or you read about one of these great Christian leaders in history and you kind of have this sigh and think, “If only I could ever have that kind of mature Christian walk.”

I see some heads nodding. We maybe just assume they’re in a different league, or they’re just naturally more spiritual than we are.

As you examine the lives of those who’ve lived spiritually mature lives, you realize that spiritual maturity doesn’t just happen. We don’t just wake up one morning and find that we’re spiritually mature. It’s a process. It’s a process that requires intentionality. It requires purposing to pursue Christ-likeness.

We’ve been looking this week at some of the resolutions of a great man of God, but made when he was still a teenager. Jonathan Edwards—who became one of the great leaders of the first Great Awakening in our country—was a great pastor and writer and thinker and man of God.

But early in his life he penned 70 resolutions focusing on what kind of person he wanted to become. What were the spiritual values that he wanted to be his core values? He purposed to live an intentional life set apart for the glory of God, to be always growing in his walk with God.

Today we want to look at some more of his resolutions and see how they can challenge us in our own process of growth toward Christ-likeness.

One of the things that comes out in Edwards’ resolutions is that he purposed to live a disciplined life. Now that’s a word I’m not exactly crazy about. And probably judging from some of your faces, you’re not either.

Discipline—that sounds like work. That sounds hard. And it is. In fact, the writer to the Hebrews says, “No discipline for the moment seems pleasant” (12:11).

When I get on the treadmill in the morning or go out to do my strenuous walk—well, it’s pretty strenuous to me . . . that isn’t pleasant. But I’m desirous of a fruit that it’s going to produce that, to me, is worth the discipline.

And Edwards was saying in his resolutions, “There’s an end result that I have in mind. I can envision what it is to be like Jesus, and I’m willing to pay a price to get from here to there.” So he purposed to live a disciplined life, to live temperately, to bring every area of his life under the control of the Holy Spirit.

For example, he said, “I’m resolved to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and in drinking.” In relation to his physical habits he said, “I’m going to be disciplined. I’m going to be temperate.”

This article was written by Nancy Leigh DeMoss at Revive Our Hearts